Fijian leid

Fijien
	Na vosa vaka-Viti
Native tae	Fiji
Region	Spoken as first leid on Vanua Levu,; the eastren hauf o Viti Levu,; an on the lesser islands; o Kadavu, Nayau,; Lakeba, Oneata, Moce,; Komo, Namuka-i-Lau,; Kabara, Vulaga, Ogea; an Vatoa; spoken as; seicont leid in the; rest o Fiji
Native speakers	(340,000 citit 1996 census); 320,000 seicont-leid uisers (1991)
Leid faimily	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesie Oceanic Central Paceefic East Fijian Fijien; ; ; ; ;
Offeecial status
Offeecial leid in	Fiji
Leid codes
ISO 639-1	fj
ISO 639-2	fij
ISO 639-3	fij

Fijian is an Austronesien leid o the Malayo-Polynesien faimily spoken in Fiji. It haes 450,000 first-leid speakers,^{[citation needit]} which is mair nor hauf the population o Fiji, but anither 200,000 speak it as a seicont leid. The 1997 Constitution established Fijien as an offeecial leid o Fiji, alang wi Inglis an Hindustani, an thare is discussion aboot establishin it as the "naitional leid", tho Inglis an Hindustani wad remain offeecial. Fijien is a VOS leid.^[1]

Staundart Fijien is based on the leid o Bau, which is an East Fijien leid.

Fijian leid

Phonology

The consonant phonemes o Fijian are as shawn in the follaein table:

		Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	(p)	t		k
Plosive	prenasalized	^mb	ⁿd		^ŋɡ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s		(x)
Fricative	voiced	β	ð
Trill	plain		r
Trill	prenasalized		^ɳɖ^r
Approximant			l	j	w

The consonant written ⟨nr⟩ haes been describit as a prenasalized trill [nr] or trilled fricative [ndr]. Houivir, it is anly rarely pronoonced wi a trilled release; the primary featur distinguishin it frae ⟨nd⟩ is that it is postalveolar, [ɳɖ], rather than dental/alveolar.^[2]

The soonds [p] an [f] occur anly in loanwirds frae ether leids. The soonds [x] an [h] anly occur for speakers frae certaint regions o the kintra.

Note the asymmetry atween the fricative pairs: bilabial [β] vs. labiodental [f], an dental [ð] vs. alveolar [s].

The vowel phonemes are:

Monophthongs
	Front		Central		Back
	short	lang	short	lang	short	lang
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Open			a	aː

Diphthongs
	Closin tae /i/	Closin tae /u/
First component is /e/	ei̯	eu̯
First component is /o/	oi̯	ou̯
First component is /a/	ai̯	au̯

In addition, thare is the risin diphthong i̯u.

Syllabs can conseest o a consonant follaeed bi a vowel (CV) or a single vowel (V).^[3] Wird stress is based on moras; a short vowel coonts as ane mora, diphthongs an lang vowels coont as twa moras. Primary wird stress then gangs tae the penultimate mora o the phonological wird. That is, if the last syllab o a wird is short, then the penultimate syllab will be stressed. If the last syllab consists o aither a lang vowel or a diphthong, the last syllab receives primary stress. That is, stress is on the penultimate mora. Stress is nae lexical an can shift whan suffixes are attached tae the ruit. Examples:

Stress on the penultimate syllab (final short vowel): síga, "day";
Stress on the final syllab (diphthong): cauravóu, "youth" (the stress extends ower the whole diphthong).
Stress shift: rábe, "kick" → rabé-ta, "kick-TR"^[4]

Orthografie

The Fijian alphabet is based on the Laitin script an consists o the follaein letters.

A B C D E F G I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y

a b c d e f g i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w y

Amang the consonants, thare is almaist a ane-tae-ane correspondence atween letters an phonemes:

b = [mb]
c = [ð]
d = [nd] (di = [ndʒi])
f = [f]
g = [ŋ]
j = [tʃ] ~ [ndʒ]
k = [k]
l = [l]
m = [m]

n = [n] nr = [ɳɖ]
p = [p]
q = [ŋɡ]
r = [r]
s = [s]
t = [t] (ti = [tʃi])
v = [β]
w = [ɰ]
y = [j] or silent

Note that for phonological reasons ti an di are pronoonced [tʃi], [ndʒi] rather than [ti], [ndi] (cf. Japanese chi kana). Hence, the Fijian name for Fiji, Viti, frae an allophonic pronunciation o [βitʃi] as [ɸidʒi].

In addeetion, the digraph dr staunds for postalveolar [n̠d̠], or a prenasalized trill [n̠ᵈ̠r̠] in careful pronunciation, or mair commonly for some fowk an in some dialects.

The vowel letters a e i o u hae roughly thair IPA values, [a ɛ~e i ɔ~o u]. The vowel length contrast is nae uisually indicatit in writin, except in dictionaries an textbeuks for learners o the leid, whaur it is indicatit bi a macron ower the vowel in quaisten; Dixon, in the wirk citit belaw, doobles aw lang vowels in his spellin seestem. Diphthongs are ai au ei eu oi ou an iu, pronoonced [ɛi̯ ɔu̯ ei̯ eu̯ oi̯ ou̯ i̯u].

Syntax

The normal Fijian wird order is VOS (verb–object–subject):

E rai-c-a (1) na no-na (2) vale (3) na gone (4).
3-sg.-sub. see-trans.-3-sg.-obj. (1) the 3-sg.-poss. (2) hoose (3) the bairn (4).
(The bairn sees his hoose.)

The naitional leid debate

In Mey an Juin 2005, a nummer o prominent Fiji Islanders cried for the status o Fijian tae be upgradit. It wis nae an offeecial leid afore the adoption o the 1997 Constitution, which made it co-offeecial wi Inglis an Hindustani. It is still nae a compulsory subject in schuils, houiver; the present Eddication Meenister, Ro Teimumu Kepa, haes endorsed caws for it tae be made sae, as haes Great Cooncil o Chiefs Chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini. Similar caws came frae Misiwini Qereqeretabua, the Director o the Institute o Fijian Leid an Cultur, an frae Apolonia Tamata, a lingueestics lecturer at Suva’s Varsity o the Sooth Paceefic, who baith said that recognition o the Fijian leid is essential tae the naition’s basic identity, as a unifyin factor in Fiji’s multicultural society.

Fiji Labour Pairty leader Mahendra Chaudhry an aa endorsed the caw for Fijian tae be made a naitional leid an a compulsory schuil subject, providit that the same status be gien tae Hindi—a poseetion echoed bi Krishna Vilas o the Naitional Reconciliation Committee.

Notes

↑ [1] WALS - Fijian
↑ Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) p 122, 131. The authors uise the transcription ⟨nḍ⟩, whaur the sub-dot is thair convention for a postalveolar stap that is nae prototypically retroflex.
↑ Dixon 1988:15.
↑ Dixon 1988:17

Soorces

Dixon, R. M. W. (1988). A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-15428-9.
Schütz, Albert J. (1985). The Fijian Language. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1005-8.

Freemit airtins

Ethnologue on Fijian
Fijian language, alphabet and pronunciation at Omniglot
Fijian–English / English–Fijian Dictionary
Na Soqoni Tabu: Na Veitarataravi Ni Noda Veiqaravi Kei Na Kalou Anglican Holy Communion in Fijian

[1] [1] WALS - Fijian

[2] Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) p 122, 131. The authors uise the transcription ⟨nḍ⟩, whaur the sub-dot is thair convention for a postalveolar stap that is nae prototypically retroflex.

[3] Dixon 1988:15.

[4] Dixon 1988:17

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]